Faking Changes E-Book

Ann Omasta

• Herausgeber: More Happily Ever Afters
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

She feels broken and inferior. He feels like the unchosen, less desirable twin.

Will they be able to heal each other and discover the happiness they both crave? Or are the secrets and scars of the past too deep and painful to ignore?

In the inspiring third installment of The Davis Twins Series, Faking Changes, Courtney has managed to rise from a background filled with abuse and hardship. She has seen the dark side of humanity and experienced horrors that her tightknit group of friends can't begin to imagine.

Even though she has transformed her life, she can't escape the inferiority complex that lurks in the shadows of her mind making her feel like an imposter, who doesn't belong and isn't worthy of true love.

Will she and the Davis twin who feels like he lost to his brother be able find happiness together, or will the secrets of her past haunt her forever?

You can read Courtney's story in Faking Changes as a stand-alone contemporary romance novel, or after the first two sizzling books in this series, Taking Chances and Making Choices. These novels feature a spicy, complicated love triangle that one reviewer called "a hot, lusty tale with a twist!"

Spend the day (or night) getting to know the sexy Davis twins.
Will you choose Team Seth or Team Sam?

Leseprobe

FAKING CHANGES

THE DAVIS TWINS SERIES: BOOK 3

ANN OMASTA

CONTENTS

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1. Courtney

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

6. Seth and Abby

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

12. Courtney

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Epilogue

Bonus Excerpt from Breaking Challenges

Let’s stay in touch!

Acknowledgments

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1

COURTNEY

My teen years were tragic, but my life now was pretty great. I had found a wonderful best friend named Abby. I lived in a gorgeous lakefront cottage in Harbor Shores, Michigan. I managed a lovely, waterside restaurant that had quickly become the place to be and be seen. Best of all, I had an amazing dreamboat of a man who seemed to enjoy spending time with me.

I’m not sure how I managed to get my life so in order, but I was grateful that things worked out the way they had. Somehow, the broken little girl from the wrong side of the tracks had turned her life around to be rather awesome.

Sure, I'd been forced to do some things that I wasn't proud of along the way in order to survive, but I had made it out. Living on the mean streets as a teenager is not something I would wish on my worst enemy. Okay, maybe the mouth-breathing oaf, but no one else.

Thankfully, that part of my existence seems a million light years from where I am now––almost like it happened to someone else. I am determined not to allow the demons of my past to ruin the life I have built here. This is how life is supposed to be. This is normal.

People who had happy childhoods live the way I am living now. My friends here all had these standard upbringings, rather than the filthy squalor that I lived in and subsequently escaped. Sometimes I feel like an imposter because of these facts, but I do my best to tamp these inferior feelings down. I steadfastly refuse to let my past define me. I'm convinced that if I keep telling myself that, eventually I will start to believe it.

With impeccable timing, Tabitha, my slightly plump, yellow tabby cat jumped up to rub the top of her head along my upper arm. I scratched her chin, making her purr loudly. "We're two of a kind, aren't we, Tab?" I murmured aloud, smiling at the cat.

She had been near death from starvation when I found her in the alley during my homeless days. I had nursed her back to health––sharing what little food I had, even when my belly was rumbling with hunger. Taking care of her and watching her recover had been the bright points of my days on the streets, which were otherwise filled with danger and filthy unpleasantness.

The cat arose from a broken past as well. She was incredibly loyal to me and––just like me––never seemed to forget where we started or how far we had come. Whenever I fed her, she scarfed her kibble down quickly, like she wasn't certain when we would be eating again. It was more than a little heart-wrenching to watch.

Tab was also incredibly wary of strangers––with strangers being anyone who isn't me. She still didn't trust Abby––even though Abby had taken us in and shared her safe and lovely home with us. We had lived together for years, but Tab still purposely and actively avoided Abby. It gave Ab a bit of a complex. It wasn't just Abby, though. Tab didn't like anyone other than me. Scratch that – anyone other than me and Seth. For some inexplicable reason, she had snuggled right up to Seth from the first time she saw him. I guess he's just irresistible to all females––even the feline variety. I'd roll my eyes, if it weren't absolutely true.

As much as I have actively tried to keep myself from falling for Seth, it has proven to be nearly impossible. For starters, he is totally hot. We are talking tall, dark and handsome times ten thousand. It's not just his looks, though. He's also thoughtful and kind and funny and oddly dorky in a sweet and lovable way.

He is like a big, soft, warm teddy bear that I want to grab ahold of and never let go, I decided. Okay, maybe a teddy bear wasn't a good metaphor because he's also sexy as hell, and I don't like stuffed animals in that way.

Speaking of his superb snuggliness, we have had some hot-and-heavy make-out sessions of the panty-dropping variety, but for some reason my panties have not yet made their way south. This idea to hold off on the naked festivities was not my idea, and I do not agree with the decision...at all. After all, we have established that Seth is just about perfect in every way, and he is supremely sexy. Why would I not want to bag that?

My thoughts had taken a rather crass turn. Imagining what Abby's reaction would be if I were to say that last part to her made me laugh out loud. Even with as much sizzling bedroom action as she has been getting since marrying Seth's identical twin, Sam, she is still shocked whenever I openly talk about anything sexual.

The limited knowledge she had of the traumas of my teen years gave her serious concerns about my ability to have a healthy and happy relationship with a man. I have never shared with her the shocking details of the abuse I endured in my childhood home, but she knows it was bad enough that I felt safer trying to make it on my own––homeless and alone.

After doing what I had to in order to survive on the streets, I hadn't thought there was anyone alive in worse shape than me––until I saw Abby. I found her on a park bench. She was just sitting there staring off into space. She was clean and dressed appropriately for a non-homeless person, but she looked so dejected and alone that something inside me felt the need to comfort her.

When I joined her on the bench, I wasn't sure if she even knew anyone else was there. I didn't know what to say, and I was concerned that my unkempt appearance and likely pungent odor would frighten her. We were silent for so long that I almost left...thinking there was nothing I could do to help anyway.

Suddenly, she said, "Over the last few months, I've lost the three most important people in my life." She looked pathetic, almost broken. I nodded at her, uncertain of what to say. Turns out, I didn't have to say anything. She told me all about the sudden deaths of her parents in a car crash and the breakup of her marriage.

"Pig." I said the single word after she finished telling me about walking in on her husband getting a bj from their real estate agent, which was the catalyst for their divorce.

"It's not all his fault." I couldn't believe she was actually going to defend this butthead's appalling behavior. "I wasn't able to conceive a child. In fact, my body's so messed up that I can't even have an orgasm." The last word was drawn out as she finally dissolved into tears.

I had no idea what to say. This woman had just spilled her heart out to me, and I couldn't think of one comforting platitude to share with her. Falling back on a pitiful attempt at humor, I finally said, "Wow, and I thought I was a hot mess. Your life is so jacked up that this homeless street rat is feeling sorry for you," I gestured at myself.

She looked at me then, for the first time. If she was shocked by my filthy appearance, she hid it well. I figured she was going to tell me to get lost, but instead she laughed. She laughed hysterically, like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard.

When her laughter subsided, she turned serious. "It seems that I'm all out of people who love me. Will you be my people?" It was a childish question, and she looked so vulnerable when she asked it, as if her whole world depended on my response. I was touched beyond reason. No one had ever made me feel so important in my entire life, and I fervently didn't want to mess this up.

"It must be your lucky day," I informed her, "because I just happen to be a people. I'll have to check my schedule, but I think I should be able to fill in whenever you need me." It was the most I had reached out to anyone since the time I had attempted to tell my school counselor, Mrs. Renault, that I didn't feel safe at home. My mother had assured her that she would 'take care of it,' and that had been the end of that. Apparently, 'take care of it' meant 'ignore it completely' in my mother's universe. She and Mrs. Renault had totally let me down. That is when I learned that I needed to take care of myself because I was the only one who would.

To my utter surprise, Abby hugged me then. It was a real hug, too. Her firm embrace felt like she was holding on for her life. No one had ever hugged me like that, and it felt glorious. I clutched onto her, not wanting to ever let go.

"Will you come live with me?" She framed the question like I would be doing her a favor. I didn't want her charity, but when I tried to decline, she became insistent. She said her gut was telling her that this was the right thing to do.

My gut was starting to do flip-flops in excitement over the too-good-to-be-true prospect of having an actual roof over my head, but I didn't want to seem too anxious. "Where I go, the cat goes," I informed Abby, gesturing at Tabitha, who was sunning herself nearby.

"Oh, I've always wanted a kitty." Abby reached out to Tab in an attempt to pet her. Tab jumped up, arched her back and hissed vehemently.

Abby jerked her hand back, straightened and said a little shakily, "Oh, my! Well, okay then. That's not great, but we'll figure it out."

It's been several years since that fateful day, and we still haven't figured it out. Ab is my best friend in the entire world. I can't imagine how different my life would be if I hadn't joined her on that bench that day, and I don't want to think about it. She completely turned my life around––and Tabi's. I'm eternally grateful to Abigail Brown. Tabitha, however, is not.

2

"Your cat is glaring at me," Abby accused as she walked into the kitchen of the home we used to share, that she now rented to me at a ridiculously low rate.

"She's not glaring." I attempted to diffuse the situation. "That's just the way she looks at people."

"She never looks at him that way," Abby thumbed Seth. "She looks at him like he walks on water."

"Smart cat," Seth grinned. "It's because she's a female," he bragged. "The ladies can't resist my charm."

Sam had just walked in from the living room and caught the tail end of Seth's comments. "So, you and Shorty here finally banged?" He ruffled my hair when he used the nickname that he knew I didn't like.

"Stop calling me that," I snapped at him, likely more annoyed about the negative answer to his question than the moniker. "And no, we haven't banged, not that it's any of your business." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Do you really have to be so blunt?" Abby asked Sam, but I could tell by the adoring look she was giving him that she wasn't truly annoyed with him.

"He's a blunt bastard," Seth said of his twin. Even though his words were harsh, he wasn't mad at Sam either. The brothers often bantered this way, with no malice intended.

In fact, Sam didn't even respond to Seth. Instead, he honed in on Abby. "I'm your blunt bastard, though." He lifted her onto the counter and kissed her hungrily.

"You guys are an old married couple now," I reminded them. "Shouldn't the non-stop sex fests be coming to an end?"

"We have a sitter for the entire night," Sam said to Abby. "Annie is probably rocking our sweet baby to sleep right now." The thought made both of them smile. "The way I see it," he continued, "we can either go in there and finish watching the boring movie these two picked out," Sam gestured at Seth and me, "or," he dragged out the word, making it obvious which option he preferred, "we could go home and spend the rest of the night naked and getting busy with all of the naughty things both of them wish they were doing, yet they continue to refuse to actually do for some inexplicable reason." He shrugged his shoulders in our direction as if we were bewildering.

"Hmmm." Abby tapped her lip with her pointer finger and pretended to think about it, but we all knew what her answer would be. The two of them were insatiable for each other. Finally, she feigned a gigantic and obviously fake yawn. "I'm really tired," she announced to the room. "We should probably go home and rest up, while we have the chance." Even though her words were innocent enough, she had a naughty gleam in her eyes.

Sam didn't waste any time as he grabbed her hand and they ran out the front door, both of them obviously giddy with anticipation.

"Bye. See you tomorrow!" I yelled out to the already empty entry.

"Those two," Seth shook his head.

"Ridiculous," I agreed, smiling.

The one nice thing about Sam having blatantly called us out on the unofficial, but still very real, 'no sex' rule is that it made it slightly easier to bring up the awkward topic with Seth. He was the one who always put the brakes on when things started to get steamy between us, and I wasn't at all certain why.

I knew it wasn't a lack of ability to get it up on his part because I had felt his impressive manhood urgently pressing into me whenever our frequent make-out sessions began to escalate into light petting, or on the rare occasions when he failed to stop us before we moved into serious groping.

Several times when we had both been panting with excitement, he had been hard as a rock, right before he had pulled back indicating he 'didn't want things to go too far.' He regularly left us both aching for more, and I just didn't get it. It was beyond frustrating and more than a little insulting.

The first time it had happened was the night Abby and Sam's baby, Anna, was born. He had taken my hand in his at the hospital after I discovered Ab's shiny new engagement ring. When we touched, it was like I was truly seeing him for the first time. I had been so worried about Joe, my boss at the restaurant, and his newly-found son that I hadn't even noticed what a wonderful and amazing guy Seth was––even though he'd been right under my nose for months.

We hightailed it out of the hospital and went straight to the home that Abby and I shared––where Seth had made himself quite comfortable during Ab's pregnancy. When he led me up the stairs to the door of my room, I had assumed we would fool around. Instead, we had kissed and talked and laughed and held each other all night long. It was wonderfully sweet and unlike anything I had ever experienced with a man before.

I knew what men wanted. They might hide it for a while and pretend to be interested in other things, but they all had the same end game. Men wanted sex. It didn't surprise me. I had seen the dark and dangerous side of both the male species and the sexual act, but I refused to let that define me.

I had determined a long time ago that if I never learned to enjoy sex that the big oaf would have taken one more thing from me, and I refused to allow that. It had taken a long time to come to terms with my body and to let it enjoy what so many take for granted as a natural part of life.

In trying to come to terms with my sexuality, I had taken things a bit too far. As long as I maintained tight control of the situation and the intercourse complied with my specific rules, I had been willing to sleep with any random guy I dated. I'm not proud of my promiscuity, but it allowed me to begin healing from my childhood traumas. The more memories I created since those dreadful encounters with my stepfather, the further away they felt.

Over the years, I had learned what men like and what they want. I knew that Seth desired me. I just didn't understand why he wouldn't act on it.

He was a man. I was supposed to know how men operate, but this particular one was exasperating. He just didn't make sense.

I knew that he had been hurt by Abby. Although my guess was that his ego was crushed, more than anything else, by her choice of Sam over him. I don't doubt that he had real feelings for Ab. How could he not? She's amazing. The ease with which he watches the two of them together, though, leads me to believe that he hadn't been desperately in love with her.

The fact that Seth had slept with Ab irks me more than I care to admit. He jumped her bones on their very first date, and she had only ever slept with her jerk-off ex-husband. I'm ready, willing, and able to rock his world, but for some reason, he has deemed me untouchable. I just don't get it.

Seth and Abby are amazingly comfortable around each other considering their history and the unbelievable awkwardness that should exist around Ab's short-lived but complicated love triangle with the twins. Their open, friendly relationship was positive proof that he hadn't been madly in love with her. If he had been, it would kill him to see her so giddily happy with Sam.

After ruling out the idea of Seth still pining away for Abby, the original question remained. Why doesn't Seth want to sleep with me?

I decided that directness was usually the best method. So, while Seth was pushing the buttons to start popping our bag of microwave popcorn, I asked the question aloud. "Why don't you want to sleep with me?"

He froze with his finger poised on the 'Start' button. His back was to me, but I could tell he was measuring his words carefully, likely knowing that this response was crucial to the future of our relationship. He lowered his head but stayed facing away from me. "I thought we should take it slow."

"I gathered that." My response was snarkier than I had intended, but it burst out of me before I had the chance to rethink it. "Why do you want to take it slow?" I asked him when he didn't elaborate.

He turned to face me then, and the look in his gorgeous green eyes melted me. He seemed to be struggling for words, but his intent gaze spoke volumes. Finally, he spoke. "I sensed that you've been hurt."

His intuition shocked me. Most men didn't bother to take notice of my battle scars, and I was extremely well-versed in hiding them. "Everyone has been hurt." I tried to make light of his dead-on insight.

"I sensed that you've been hurt deeply." He let the words hang there, and I wasn't at all sure how to respond. He saw too much. It made me feel vulnerable––like he could see right through me. He took the pressure off me by continuing. "I don't want to add to that pain. You are too important to me."

My bristly side wanted to raise its hackles. His words had implied that he would hurt me if we became too close. He had bailed on Abby when she opened herself up to him. Granted, it was only a brief departure, but he had still left her alone and wounded. Was Seth warning me that he would do the same thing if I let him get too close?

The barricade around my heart that I'd erected had come dangerously close to lowering for Seth. Perhaps he was letting me know that I should keep it firmly in place. I had found myself trusting him more and more, but he seemed to be advising me not to place my faith in him.

My instinct was to slam shut the tentative and fragile opening Seth had forged in my walls of self-defense. There was a reason I didn't let anyone in, and it was because people hurt other people. I blasted myself for briefly forgetting this basic tenant of human nature.

As my mind continued to whirl with silent reprimands for my lack of vigilance at protecting myself, Seth moved closer to me––our planned popcorn forgotten. He reached a finger out to run along my jawline. My traitorous face wanted to turn in towards his caress, but I willed myself not to allow that. Somehow, I needed to find the strength to start resisting this utterly irresistible man.

Seth broke the silence. "I don't have a great track record with relationships. After all, look how I fouled things up with Abby."

It never failed to amaze me that he fully accepted blame for the fiasco of a love triangle that happened with Abby and his brother. Much as I loved Ab, there was no denying that she royally messed up by getting involved with both Davis twins. The fact that neither of the men seemed to hold a grudge about it was a testament to their character. In all honesty, the fact that she had slept with both of them within a week of each other gave me the heebie-jeebies, and I'm usually pretty liberal about such things. I have found that it is best for me to not think about it too much.

Continuing with his self-deprecating blame game, Seth added, "I truly cared about Abby, but when things started to get a little bit intense, I freaked out and left. My leaving effectively pushed her into Sam's arms."

Although I was thinking, Umm, no, she went to him quite willingly of her own accord, I remained silent. I didn't want to badmouth my best friend, but I did feel like she had crossed a line by jumping into Sam's bed so soon after being with Seth. Who am I to judge, though? I might have done the same thing in her situation.

"I've tried to take things slowly with you because I don't want to make the same mistakes I did by moving too fast with Abby. I care about you, and I don't want to rush."

"I think the rushing ship has long since sailed." I smiled at him to let him know I was teasing...sort of.

"You seem so fragile." He kissed me gently.

"You won't break me," I promised before taking his hand and leading him upstairs to my room.

3

"How was it?" Abby leaned in to get the scoop. "Was it worth the wait?" She asked before giving me a chance to answer her first question.

"It was amazing," I told her honestly before laughing at her excited clapping. She was obviously overjoyed by my news. I felt a little guilty for wondering if she might be jealous about me being with Seth. After all, she had found him and she'd been with him first. Other than Abby, I hadn't had a plethora of girlfriends, so I wasn't positive if there was some kind of unwritten girls' code of ethics about not sleeping with a friend's ex. It wouldn't exactly be fair, since Abby was the one who decided to call things off with Seth, but I wasn't crystal clear on the rules for this situation. Although, I'm guessing that our particular circumstances must be fairly unique.

She seemed to be expecting me to elaborate, so I added, "He was sweet and passionate and everything a woman could want in a lover." I can't believe I almost added 'as you know.' That would have been mortifying for both of us.